Ginger Voight's Blog, page 25

Happy Birthday, Steve Perry. The One. The Only. The "Voice."

One of the gifts that I received on Christmas, 1978, was a "Bert & Ernie" AM/FM radio. At the tender age of nine, I couldn't possibly know what this gift would come to mean to me over the next year. It was a toss-away gift at best, I was far more interested in the gifts that contributed to my growing Barbie collection.



Shortly after Christmas we moved to a new house across town. This wasn't unusual for my family. By the time I was 9 years old we had moved at least ten times. This move, however, meant a new school. A new school meant new people, and by the time I was 9 I was really kind of over it.

In the end, I spent the better part of 1979 in the safe haven that was my pink bedroom in our new house.



This is where I'd wile away the hours of that summer, creating stories using my Barbies and my Fisher Price Little People. It was just me, my imagination, and my only other constant companion that summer - my Bert & Ernie AM/FM radio.

It was that summer I discovered the true gift I had been given. Instead of listening to the Country/Western twang of good ol' Hee Haw music many of my hometown folks in Abilene were listening to (including my own parents,) I was able to find my own music. I gravitated to the Top 40 station. I discovered that I didn't much care for Country Western. I, instead, preferred the more popular beat of rock and roll.

Of course in 1979, the top 40 list was filled with all kinds of music - including the much maligned disco. (Yes, I liked that too. And I still do.)

But my favorite song of that year came from a rock band. They were called Journey.



I can't tell you why I latched onto a song that had such a primal, sexual beat and a message far too mature for my delicate third/fourth grade mentality. All I can tell you is that when that song hit the radio, I'd turn the volume up and belt it out with gusto. It was all about the music. I didn't care about bands or singers because my heart still belonged to Davy Jones of the Monkees. It would take another couple of years before Journey and Steve Perry entered into my consciousness beyond the music.

It was 1981 and my father had recently passed away. My mother worked long hours at the Levi plant in Amarillo, Texas. We had moved. Again. I was in a new place. Again. Fortunately the Good Lord above had sent an earthbound angel my direction in the shape of an eleven-year-old classmate, to guide me through the next painful periods of my life. We'd stay up for hours on the phone so I wouldn't feel so all alone. After he'd gone to bed, my babysitter was my television set. And one weekend I happened to catch a rerun of The Midnight Special. Imagine the thrill I got when I found out that Journey would be performing my favorite song!

The thrill soon abated the minute I got a look at the guys who made the music I so loved. Growing up in Abilene, Texas, I was used to two types of people: shit kickers and Air Force personnel. There weren't a lot of long-haired Portuguese guys or short Italians sporting Afros in my neck of the woods. The only band I knew, really, up to this point were the Monkees. To say that Steve Perry is a far cry from Davy Jones is a bit of an understatement. I spent the better part of that song wrapping my head around this entirely unexpected development. It wasn't until this unusual man stepped down into the audience and crooned to one of the girls in the audience that I went from "WTF" to "mmm okay." It was a moment that tattooed itself on my brain. Eventually it emerged in my popular Rubenesque romance, "Groupie," as one of the tactics the hot rock singer Vanni would use to win over the squealing fangirls who came to see the show. Looking back now I see it as a defining "idol" moment.



It wasn't the same starry-eyed infatuation I had when I saw Davy Jones for the first time, but the fascination lingered. Through the "Escape" era that followed, when Journey was all over the radio, I would remember that moment with a bit of a thrill. This is the magic of being a front man of a rock band. It's your job to make all the girls fall in love with you. They get to color themselves into the fantasy girls you sing about, so the more personal you make that connection, the more successful you'll be.

Never was this truer than that fateful night a couple of years later when Mr. Perry unknowingly sent an arrow straight through a thirteen-year-old's heart courtesy of Friday Night Videos.

In 1983, those of us who didn't get our MTV got our video fix every Friday night. It was must-see TV in my house. And just like that night two years prior, the minute I heard that Journey was coming up with a new music video, an unexpected thrill surged through my body. Only this time it wasn't just about the music. I really wanted to see the lead singer again. Even after all that time, I hadn't forgotten the impact he had made on me.

Things had changed a bit down Steve Perry way. His hair was shorter and he sported a mustache. I wasn't sold on either look until he shaved off the 'stache half-way through the video. I was just getting settled in with all these changes when he did something that no one had ever done to me. He gave me "The Look."

Oh sure, he was probably thinking of Sherrie when he glanced ever so lovingly and soulfully into the camera. He had no way of knowing he was filming a gesture that would forever change the course of a daydreamy Texas teenager who lived a million miles away in another galaxy. But in that moment, that connection was with me. And everything I thought about love before then rewired itself in an instant.



It sounds silly now, of course. This was 30 years ago (GAK) when I was an impressionable, lonely, insecure teenager. And perhaps that was why I latched onto this new "love" with all the passion I could muster. If you have ever met a teenage girl then you'll already know that was quite a lot. Within a week I had purchased the Frontiers album and showed my mom the picture on the back cover, letting her know that was the guy I was going to marry.

It was a safe daydream when I was 13. At the time I was an awkward, overweight girl on the losing end of acne. Guys my age who noticed me at all only thought I served one purpose: the butt of the joke. I hadn't been kissed. I hadn't been asked on any date. I could only dream about getting a homecoming mum like many of the other girls who didn't fight my particular battles. But for three or four minutes, I could listen to a song and I could do what I did best... I could pretend. I could pretend I was the kind of girl he sang about, the kind of girl any guy would write or sing any song about. I could daydream about the day a man would look at me, for real, and love me, for real.

Thanks to Steve Perry, I learned how to dream big, much bigger than the life I could expect marrying a high school sweetheart and settling down into a nice, traditional, picket fence lifestyle with 2.5 kids and a dog. I could reach as far as my daydreamy little heart could take me, which was fortunate. My life was never going to be traditional because *I* wasn't traditional. There were no high school sweethearts on bended knee, no picket fence futures on the horizon. I could either settle for much less than I deserved or shoot my expectations into outer space and just see where they landed. Steve was the first of such lofty aspirations. I learned how to hang on through the disappointments and never give up hope that one day I would find someone who was happy to give me the love I wanted more than anything.



I wanted love so badly I made a lot of mistakes along the way. I kissed my fair share of frogs and settled for way less than I deserved because I bought into the lie that it's unrealistic to aspire to an "exceptional" life. Instead I forfeited love for sex, trading in my self-esteem in the process. I got hurt - a lot - as my heart bounced around like a hacky sack from one loser to another. Despite it all, I found myself returning to Steve again and again. Something in my spirit wouldn't settle for settling. I wanted something exceptional. I wanted to believe I was worth something exceptional. His music... his songs... were my lifeline. In this daydream I was able to grow beyond the limits of the ordinary. His voice created a bubble that was safe. Pure. Untouched by the letdowns of "real" life relationships. It's still where I go when I feel sad. It still lifts me up when I'm down. It reminds me to never give up - that something better is coming. To hold onto hope. To never stop believing. (Yeah. I went there.)

Over these many years I finally figured out why that message is so universally powerful. It isn't so that you'll one day get that thing exactly the way you think you want it. It's so you are open and receptive to things even bigger and better than you'd let yourself dream. Obviously I didn't marry Steve Perry, but I married men who saw me the way Steve Perry saw the women he sang about - which was my heart's truest desire.



In the end, I can honestly say that Steve Perry was more than just a celebrity crush. He was a significant influence throughout my childhood. He was a beacon... a light in my darkness. Looking back I can't remember a day when he didn't brighten my world with dreams worth reaching for. Even after 30 years, his songs are my safe place to fall. It was more than just music. It was a connection that someone as disconnected as I was really needed to get from one day to another. He held my hand as I navigated over the perilous, rocky path of adolescence, and he didn't even know it. Without that... without him... I really don't know where I would be. As silly as it sounds, I mean it sincerely when I say I love him as true today as I loved him when I was 13.

So happy birthday, Steve.

And thank you.

"Groupie" on sale for $0.99! Limited time only! #fridayreads

It’s been eighteen years since I wrote my first genre romance, and sixteen years since traditional romance publishers told me my romantic heroines weren't relatable. In that time I’ve written (and rewritten) six more romance novels. In every heroine I have left a little bit of myself. Caitlin, from PICTURE POSTCARDS, is a hopeless romantic. Shannon, from LOVE PLUS ONE, hides herself in the shadows because she’s too insecure to claim love and success as her own. Jessica, from UNDER TEXAS SKIES, is a feisty, proud redhead that won’t back down to a male-dominated culture. Adele, from MY IMMORTAL, is much stronger than she knows, and has a purpose much higher than she’d ever believed possible. These are my strengths, these are my weaknesses. These are my passions.

With Andy Foster and GROUPIE, I was able to indulge some of the fantasies I’ve secretly harbored since I was a starry-eyed nine-year-old. I’ve been a music groupie the minute I first saw Davy Jones of “The Monkees.” I believed with my whole heart I’d marry Steve Perry after he stole my heart four years later. My first love was rock and roll, and decades later I know there is no known cure for my affliction.

Despite these ambitious beginnings, however, I’ve never chased a band or any rock stars. Yet to this day a long-haired singer with dark eyes and swagger continues to be my kryptonite. It’s a very primal call to tame the bad boy, and there are no boys more rebellious and compelling than those who strut across the stage in leather and chains, singing about the things they’d do to you if they could.

In GROUPIE, I finally let that inner groupie find out – exactly – what that is. Unfortunately for Andy, it starts her on an epic journey in an on-again, off-again relationship with someone who is completely wrong for her, which only fuels the attraction. Haven’t we all been there at least once?

I did a couple of things different in GROUPIE than my other novels. I made it sexier, because like I said, bad rocker boys are my weakness. If I’m going to live vicariously through my heroine, I’m going to do the things that I’ve never done. Seducing/being seduced by a sexy singer made the top of that list.

I also made her unapologetic about her size-sixteen body. There’s no angst on whether or not she’s good enough for him because of her weight. She knows he has just as much trouble saying no to her curves that she has saying no to his dominant, seductive nature. Needless to say, it’s been a lot of fun to write. There is a constant power struggle going on, which I find oh, so fascinating, and it inadvertently turned the whole sexy saga into a series. We’ll blame Graham Baxter for that. He wrote himself into the story and turned my neat and tidy original outline upside down. With the introduction of a better suited lover for Andy, it became obvious to me that there would be no “Happily Ever After” by the time I brought GROUPIE to a close. I was at a crossroads many of us women find ourselves eventually. Do we pick the one we love? Or do we pick the one who loves us the way we wish to be loved? Do we chase after raw and unbridled passion? Or settle for security and mutual respect?

What do you do when you love two completely different men? Can you be practical in matters of the heart? These are the questions I found myself unable to answer by the time I resolved the “plot” of GROUPIE. Andy and her bad boy rocker, Vanni, had too many starts and stops. They were nowhere near ready to settle down and commit, if they ever would be. They both had a lot of growing to do, especially Vanni. If I had been the one reading it and it ended with a happily ever after, I’d have tossed the book across the room. There’s no way someone like Vanni, who was an entitled commitment-phobe (read: womanizing asshole,) would forfeit his extracurricular activities right as his star truly started to rise and he was given free rein to indulge himself. He was too selfish, still. He hadn’t suffered enough. (I take care of that in book two, and it ain't pretty.)

My philosophy is if I can’t sell the story to myself, I won’t be able to sell the story to you. This triangle was a tangled mess, and I knew I’d need a lot more space to work things out. As such, GROUPIE became my first published series, with the subsequent ROCK STAR that released in September 2012, to keep the readers guessing whether I’d ever let Andy and Vanni reach their happy ending.

Not everyone who has read GROUPIE/ROCK STAR likes this approach, but frankly the critics have been fewer in number than I had expected. I published on a wing and a prayer that people would "get it." Much to my surprise, many of you have. The audience GROUPIE draws understands the constant push/pull of the triangle (even if they do want to throttle the characters – and by extension, me – on a regular basis.) The GROUPIE series trounced LOVE PLUS ONE as my personal best seller, and these are the books generating buzz and interest.

I guess I’m not the only one who harbors lascivious fantasies about sexy rocker boys. The question has never been whether or not we can love a sexy rock god. The true variable is whether he can learn to love us like we deserve.

And I gotta tell ya... it's a lot of fun trying to figure that out.

The journey continues with MOGUL, which will release in February 2013… but you can start with this little teaser into the highly acclaimed Groupie series.

Read a sample of Groupie here. If you like what you read, check out the whole book for $0.99 while it's on sale for a limited time.

PICTURE POSTCARDS, author notes for your FREE FRIDAY READ

In 1995, Harlequin put out a call for new submissions with a specific slant. They wanted books that used the written word as an instrument to find romance. I came up with a plot that involved anonymous, romantic postcards that ended up in the wrong hands, in a comedy of errors to find true love.

At the time I was recovering from the emotional devastation of losing my youngest son, who had passed away January 1995 when he was only nine days old. I needed something light-hearted in which to immerse myself, so I tackled my first genre romance. Today it may be considered Chick Lit, or even a romantic comedy. Unlike some of my more angst-y stories, this one was written to be a good time: fun, flirty, funny, sometimes cringe-worthy, but uplifting good-time fluff.

Sometimes you just need it, you know?

Like I mentioned in the note for LOVE PLUS ONE, I initially envisioned my heroine as perfect as all the lovely ladies I had read about as a kid, when I would plow through Harlequin romances as fast as my aunt could pass them off to me. PICTURE POSTCARDS actually was the first to get an agent’s attention, but we ran into some trouble trying to sell it to publishers. They didn’t find Caitlin to be believable or relatable. She was, as they said, “too perfect.” I shelved the project for years, ultimately converting it into a screenplay years later. I figured I could leave how they pictured the affable Caitlin up to a casting director.

Bottom line, I wasn’t ready to give up on PICTURE POSTCARDS yet. I always loved the story, especially the nostalgic, almost whimsical, fairy-tale feel of it. Surely there had to be a way to make it work, I just had to find it.

As years passed I realized how dated my concept really was. What worked in 1995 wouldn’t work in the 21st century, and it seemed further and further out of reach with the introduction of each new gadget or gizmo. We are way more connected than we used to be, so finding love through misplaced snail-mail correspondence grew even more unrealistic by the year. When I decided to rewrite the story with a full-figured heroine, thus resolving the “too perfect” dilemma, I was then faced with the challenge of making my dated plot a contemporary story. It finally fit right into place with the realization there’s only one thing you can do with a modern day fairy tale: you tell it as a bedtime story. My solution enabled me to fall in love with the characters in a brand new way, simply because I got to see what their lives were like after “The End.”

For that alone, it was worth it.

Read the #1 rated sample here.

For Friday, January 4, 2013, you can download the entire full-length novel for a FRIDAY FREE READ as a Kindle e-book.

Enjoy!

Special Holiday Pricing for Groupie and Rock Star!

Christmas is my favorite holiday and has been since I was a child. I love to make it special, and this year I get to make it special for all the readers who have so graciously and generously made me a part of their library. I want to make it that much easier for you to give - and get - the books you love most.

As my gift to you I've dropped the prices on GROUPIE and ROCK STAR just in time to fill those holiday stockings for those readers on your gift-giving lists. The best bargain is still the bundle, giving you two books for almost half the price of many Kindle best sellers.



And don't forget, for the holidays only you can get three books for only $4.99 with my Rubenesque Romance bundle for LOVE PLUS ONE, UNDER TEXAS SKIES and PICTURE POSTCARDS.



Keep an eye on this blogspace in the coming days. There's a special holiday surprise coming, including some free Kindle releases as my Christmas gift to all of you!

Happy holidays, y'all. You are my gift this year. :D

Exciting news regarding the release date for Mogul!

For all of you who have asked me whether or not it is possible to release early...

The answer is yes. :D

Mark your calendars for February 5, 2013 for a Kindle, Smashwords and Amazon release, and be sure to put MOGUL on your "To Read" shelf on Goodreads.

If you are a book blogger who would like to screen an advance copy, send me a note at ginger@gingervoight.com with a link to your blog. I plan to start sending screener copies in January. If you are interested in corresponding giveaways with the books, note that in your email so we can schedule something. I'll feature all reviews on my official website and also on the official Facebook page for Mogul.

I can't wait to hear what you all have to say about this third and final installment in the Groupie series! Only 51 more days to go. ;)

Here's another sneak peek, where some of my favorite characters from Love Plus One play cupid for a certain couple in Mogul.

For your Sample Sunday consideration: Mags and Graham.

A sneak peek at MOGUL! Coming in Feb. 2013

To all of you who climbed aboard the roller coaster love affair between Andy Foster and Giovanni Carnevale, I know you are anxiously awaiting to read what ultimately becomes of them in the third book, MOGUL, due in February 2013.

The first draft is done and in the hands of my capable beta readers, whose notes thus far ensure that Mogul will be the strongest, possibly best received, book of the series. Suffice it to say, I'm as excited for February as many of you are.

So here's a tidbit to tide us all over as we get ready for the book release. (Note: If you haven't yet read GROUPIE/ROCK STAR, I'd advise waiting to read it in order. There really is a method to my madness. You'll appreciate the events in this chapter much more if you've walked that painful journey with the rest of us.)



For those who have read the first two books, I think this chapter fully prepares you for the climatic ride ahead. It has the romance of GROUPIE, the drama of ROCK STAR and those WTF cliffhanger moments I tend to love. ;)

For your consideration.... THE PROPOSAL.

MY IMMORTAL sample chapter & author notes. #samplesunday

Sometimes book ideas come from the strangest places. MY IMMORTAL started with a comment made by, or to, my best friend of three decades, during one of our all-night IM-a-thons. We have logged numerous hours chatting with each other over the Internet to the wee hours of the morning, and it wasn’t uncommon for us to finally log off and go to bed when the sun came up. This night was no different. Someone made the comment, “We must have been vampires in a past life,” and that was all it took. Within a day I had crafted a complete plot around the idea: what would happen if a vampire had been reincarnated?

Sure, it works as a scary story. I personally find vampires especially frightening, which made writing the whole thing a test of my will. But something else began to emerge, something completely unexpected: this is a story that explores the timeless endurance of true love. The only reason I could see for a vampire to die in such a redeemed state that it would be reincarnated was if it sacrificed itself for the love of another. This became the driving theme behind the story, especially what we would be willing to sacrifice for those we love.

“If you love him, you will do it.”

By the time I wrote this story in 2005, I was on my second marriage. My two husbands were completely different: Daniel was the exciting one, the adventurous one, the dangerous one; Steven was (is) steadfast, loyal, and stable. I went from marrying my hero to marrying my best friend, but I truly believe an argument could be made they were both my soul mates. My aforementioned best friend, Jeff, believes that we keep meeting our most important people in life after life, in significant ways. Maybe in a past life he was my brother or my father, and in this incarnation he is now my lifelong friend. Since I was exploring the idea of reincarnation anyway, I wanted to dig a little deeper into that concept, on how we continually meet up with the people we are meant to love.

Since I had lost Dan in 2003, the idea that he wasn’t really lost at all ended up being central to the love story of MY IMMORTAL, which makes it immensely personal. This paranormal romance explored themes of sacrifice, but most importantly – redemption. I crafted my heroine as someone who was an emotional mess, so that she would have the most to redeem (and sacrifice) throughout her journey. Adele Lumas was so flawed, so imperfect and so broken that her weight never really was an issue upon first writing her. Later, after I decided to change her into a full-figured heroine, it dawned on me that what made a woman attractive hundreds of years ago would not be the same thing that makes someone attractive today. In this sense Adele is truly the most Rubenesque heroine I’ve written, even though she was never intended to be Rubenesque at all. The man who had spent centuries looking for her would find her more generous proportions his romantic ideal; even detractors to the Rubenesque genre couldn’t argue this. But honestly, changing the book wasn’t that difficult to do because her character is so complex that I never really focused on her appearance at all – which is how I choose to handle all my heroines outside the Rubunesque genre. If I don’t mention a size, then I don’t feel it’s worth mentioning.

We’re more than our sizes. That’s the moral I wish to impart with each and every book.

Trivia: I was inspired heavily by the song "My Immortal" to write this book, and in fact music came to mean so very much in the creative process. This is the second book where I actually had a long soundtrack to keep me motivated with the movie in my head. (The first was my first book, which has yet to be rewritten and published.)



You can read more about how personal a love note this story is for me here.

And you can read a sample chapter here.

Free reads for your Kindle and Cyber Monday deals

In the spirit of Cyber Monday, here are some freebies and bargains for you to enjoy for the holiday.

Check out SAN FRANCISCO SERENADE, a Christmas novella that is free for your Kindle Monday, November 26.



Also free for Monday is COMIC SQUAD. Check it out for the younger reader on your holiday gift-giving list.



For some sexy suspense, download TASTE OF BLOOD, the first book in the Reese Mackenzie franchise.



And for the Cyber Monday low price of only $3.99, you can download three of my Rubenesque romance novels in a convenient, low-cost bundle. That's less than $1.50 per book! This bundle is only available through the holidays, so act now to own all three books at these rock-bottom prices. (Fans of the GROUPIE franchise will want to get to know some of these characters, who will be making appearances in the third book in the GROUPIE trilogy, MOGUL, in February!)



Don't forget you can own both GROUPIE and ROCK STAR in a low-cost bundle! Just $5.99 for both, at a savings of 25% off the listing prices if you bought both books separately!



My titles are also available on All Romance eBooks, and for Cyber Monday there are significant savings, which will help fit any of my titles into your Cyber Monday Budget. ;)

So Happy Shopping, Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!!

UNDER TEXAS SKIES chapters and notes #samplesunday

When I was a teenager, I was a huge fan of the classic rock band, the Eagles. I came to the party late, after their infamous breakup in the early 80s, so instead of concerts and new music I happily immersed myself in the vast discography of their old material. One record that I found myself drawn to was their 1973 release, DESPERADO. It was a theme album, which means all the music related to a central story. As a burgeoning storyteller myself, I let my own imagination run free for the drama that read between the lines. By the time I was sixteen, I got the idea that I could write a stage play for a musical in which this material could be used. My dream was that I would ultimately send it to the guys and, because they recognized the rare genius of this unknown Texas teen progeny, we would all work together to make my vision a reality.

When I dream, I dream big.

Since I consider Don Henley and Glenn Frey master lyricists, this would put me side by side with true idols. I felt pretty confident I belonged there until I started actually writing the darn thing, with no clue at all how to it justice. No matter how hard I tried, it still read like a clueless teenager wrote it, because – well, one did. Eventually I shelved that too. I still have the stage play, handwritten on notebook paper, safely tucked in a binder. But you’d have an easier time getting me to pluck all my fingernails off and dipping my hands in alcohol than show my sophomoric attempts to anybody, much less Glenn or Don.

Many years later, after I had successfully finished PICTURE POSTCARDS, I decided to pick the bones off of this forgotten corpse for a traditional romance novel. Instead of gamblers and outlaws, who found love in a widow and met their ends at the gallows, I decided to shift the focus to the feisty female lead and give her that basic romance staple – a marriage of convenience – to shake things up a bit. This, truly, was my homage to the romance novels I grew up reading, Janet Dailey's books in particular.

Like in my novel PICTURE POSTCARDS, Jessica Austin started out thin and beautiful – even though she was completely flawed by being ornery as a cranky rattlesnake. When I decided to concentrate on Rubenesque romances, I rewrote the story by showing how her weight was her fortress to keep men at bay. This is a struggle I know all too well. You can’t be tempted if you don’t tempt anyone, right? Well, that strategy only works as long as there aren’t any men who find you attractive. Even when you carry some extra weight, you’re going to find someone who sees beyond your size and falls in love with all those faults you think are deal-breakers, when really they’re the things that draw people to you. Like Jessica, I’m stubborn and controlling, which usually sends folks running to the hills. For my husband, he just tells me I’m a force of nature while he sits back and enjoys the ride.

No matter what Hal Sparks says, you just never know.

Rather unwittingly, Jessica herself ends up the “Desperado” character – running from love and betting her heart on material things she thinks she can’t lose. (This is a revelation I just made upon this writing.)



Naturally the best way to mix things up for my heroine was to introduce a very tempting cowboy who didn’t find her weight any kind of barrier at all. This drives the conflict in a setting that, as a native Texan, I know all too well. (Trivia: the cover photo is taken near my hometown of Abilene, Texas, at a place called Fort Phantom Hill.) This is where I grew up and a place my heart still calls home.

UNDER TEXAS SKIES gave me the opportunity to play around with some of the elements I love, specifically Texas, sexy Southern men and the excitement of an unpredictable thunderstorm. Like the marriage of convenience, these are fan favorites in the romance genre, which makes UNDER TEXAS SKIES one of my top sellers.

You can read a sample chapter here.

Now you can own UNDER TEXAS SKIES along with my books LOVE PLUS ONE and PICTURE POSTCARDS all for one low price. Purchase my RUBENESQUE ROMANCE BUNDLE of three books for only $3.99!

Happy Thanksgiving, Readers! Special Holiday Savings

I have so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving, thanks mostly to all my readers, reviewers and fans. You all took a chance on me, read my work and gave me honest and enthusiastic feedback. What's more, you shared it with others, who shared it with others still. One ripple led to another, which led to another, which still continues on in ways I had only hoped to see. Your passion for these stories and these characters inspires me and drives me to do better as I continue the series, and turn my focus to the future. It's just such an amazing process to witness and be a part of. I am both so rewarded and deeply humbled.

So along with my profound thanks, I'd like to offer holiday savings on some of my titles.

For Thanksgiving, I'm offering my paranormal romance, "My Immortal," for 30% off on Smashwords, using the coupon GQ57H at checkout all throughout Thanksgiving Day.

You can read some back story here, and a sample chapter here.

Starting Black Friday and running until Sunday, I will offer all my titles listed on All Romance Ebooks at 25% off. This includes the best-selling Groupie/Rock Star series.

For Free Reads Friday, I'm offering my Rubenesque Romance Sampler. This will give you some insight into these stories, as well as three sample champers of my Rubenesque titles.

Thanks again for reading. Happy holidays to you and those you love.

Happy reading!